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The Daily PollA SHORTAGE OF taxis in Dublin is being described as a ‘crisis’ that could escalate significantly.
There has been a drop-off in active taxi drivers since the start of the pandemic and the industry has failed to recover following the lifting of restrictions, leading to safety concerns for people attempting to get home after a night out.
Sometimes you can get lucky by being in the right spot at the right time, but others might be left waiting for some time before being able to hail one.
So today we’re asking: Have you struggled to get a taxi home from a night out recently, either in Dublin or in another part of the country?
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Why Taxi Bashing. Did anyone ring the NTA and ask were are the Buses Trams and Trains..The way to stop all of this is let the clubs open till 6 am like the rest of Europe. Instead of 1000s of people on the streets at the same time .problem solved..
@Derek Moean: why is there no problem getting taxi if you pay cash ?
@Patrick O’Brien: don’t think so .
@Derek Moean: legalise Uber, like every other country in Europe
@Ciaran bolger: it is here down load the app…or is it unlicensed and uninsured Taxis your looking for….
@Derek Moean: I’d just really like to be able to get a taxi home late at night without the driver deciding to cancel my pre-booking, without the driver deciding that “he’s not going that direction”, without the driver deciding that “the credit card machine is broken”, without the driver driving past me only to stop for someone else 50yds down the road. Too much to ask?
@Patrick O’Brien: they take cash and bitcoins.
@Patrick O’Brien: Because many drivers can’t afford to wait 10-12 days to be paid via bank card systems many drivers work to feed their families today and tomorrow and the same to refuel their cars.
@Patrick O’Brien: Because many drivers work today to feed their families and pay their bills tomorrow not everyone can afford to wait 10-12 days for bank cards to pay out not to mention cars must be refuelled daily.
@Liam P Dunne: That’s literally what credit cards are for. Pay for fuel with credit card, pay off credit card when the fares that are paid with cards come through. It’s not my fault a taxi driver can’t manage their cashflow like literally every other business and sole trader.
@Derek Moean: leave the Trans out of this. They get enough of online trolling.
@OnlyHereForTheComments: Most taxi driver’s are just back to work after two years of living on 350pw and many have spent all of their own saving trying to survive through that period. Not every business or sole trader done well from covid.
@Derek Moean: I think people are entitled to a lift when they’re paying a private Taxi driver 5 or 6 times the price they’d pay on public transport.
A night out? What is this magic illusion you speak of?
Some taxis want cash only customers. Obviously to avoid paying tax.
@barry moore: Sssh…! They get all uppity if you say that. Their machines are broken!
@barry moore: so do Customs they’ll only accept legal tender. Let’s hope they are paying tax on that…..
@Liz O’Neill: next time offer them to pay transaction charges. They will accept card.
It’s not just on a night out, try getting a late flight home, queues for taxis are wrapped around the barriers and a taxi only pulling up 1 or 2 in a 5 minute windows. Thankfully Dublin bus now have a 24 hour service through the airport, but I’ve seen that leave full and people left waiting for the next bus.
@David Connolly: and DAA now want to charge people who get picked up by private car ! Obvioulsy to try encourage us onto the metro service to the city .. oh wait
@David Connolly: you have to have a wheelchair accessible taxi to use Dublin Airport, hence the shortage
@Bri Lyons: most airports charge, Bristol is 5 pounds to drop and pickup. At least Malaga give 15 minutes free
@Ian James Burgess: No you don’t, standard salon cars / Taxis are always at Dublin airport. I got one on Friday
@WiseUp: Any new permits have to be wheelchair accessible and 5 passengers
Another brain-dead idea from the DAA
Bring in uber. Problem solved
@johnbrady: more than enough unregulated cars and drivers on the road as it is
@johnbrady:
John, uber are already in Ireland.
@Martin Walsh: Not the proper Uber, they still have to be registered taxis here. It’s a joke.
@johnbrady: yes u will find all the angels working for uber .
Trust me uber won’t solve your problems .
A) zero taxis where I live, if you need a lift you ask a neighbour. B) what’s a “night out”?
Taxi drivers cancelling accepted fares on the app is my biggest issue with them!
@Martin: complaing about cancellation over here won’t solve your problem. Talk to company who provide service.
When I was going out regularly years ago it was impossible to get taxis
No hassle at all really…although these days the latest im out in the city is 00:00am…id imagine its a bit more difficult after 1am..one of the benefits to not being a spring chicken out on the tiles anymore
Was in Dublin a few weeks ago for the David Gray concert. Used FreeNow from the hotel. No problem at all. Only had to wait a minute or two.
No problem either coming back on the Friday night and Saturday night. Flagged one on Dame street and O’Connell street. Both were around midnight.
If you try to order a taxi around my place, they will only take you if there is other people going near your direction so they charge each person.
@John: Greed
Surely ‘safety concerns’ are due to something other than lack of taxis.
And there’s a bang of entitlement off the right being able to hire a private manned vehicle when I want where I want
@ConPhoto: Are you suggesting that being able to get a taxi home is some kind of luxury that’s too much for people to expect? “Safety concerns” are what people have when they have to walk halfway home, alone before a taxi will bother to stop to pick them up.
Taxi drivers that have or will be retiring can’t sell there car taxi plate/license to another person.This has caused the problem we see now, thousands of owners have left and plates/ licenses are left in the shed, there is many new drivers they would like the opportunity to own and use these car plates but all that’s available is wheelchair/van plates from the nta that nobody wants let the old drivers retire and get some of there investment back and watch the current situation change.its a simple solution solution that just needs a stroke of a pen
@david collins: That’s discriminating against wheelchair users. There’s not nearly enough wheelchair accessible Taxis in this Country but you hit the nail there when you said ‘nobody wants wheelchair plates/licenses ‘ = LAZINESS and that’s why most of these comments are complaints against Taxi drivers.
@Margaret Doyle: it’s not discriminating against wheelchair users the issue is there’s not enough taxis for other vulnerable users not just wheelchair users one of the solutions is to allow existing licenses to be sold to people that want to work them and maintain existing numbers there’s been thousands of licences surrendered according to nta the only discriminating is that the nta is allowing some drivers to drive what they like and forcing new drivers to drive a certain type of vehicle that’s not a good incentive for new drivers there is enough wheelchair licences just not enough drivers willing to do that type of work nothing is going to solve that
For some reason if you pay cash there is no problem I think it’s disgraceful
@Patrick O’Brien: look like you know cash is a solution then why complain. At last u are getting taxi.
@Patrick O’Brien: The tax man should be on their back.
@Margaret Doyle: or tax woman DONT DISCRIMINATE
Thankfully I’m of an age where I’m happy to drink and dine in the fine establishments around my suburbs and never have an issue getting a taxi home afterwards. Saying that, I was in the city centre (Dublin) a few weekends ago and it was a nightmare trying to hail a lift from them.
Let’s double the amount of taxis, sure they can do f-all the rest of the week.
1st world problems wha…
@Damien Leen: Last time I checked we did live in a First World country…
@Damien Leen: Crying snowflakes… crying snowflakes everywhere.
For short trips next time try to ask others and try sharing taxi.
For card payments(no harm to carry some cash with you)
@Noshah Monk: “Bow down to your taxi driver overlords and do as they say”. “Do not expect them to adhere to the regulations of their industry, for that is a step too far”
Are you aware if you use an App to call a taxi the driver pays 15% of his fare in commission .So lets say the fare is 10 euro the drivers operating costs are about 40% Car purchase ,Insurance ,Fuel, Maintenance So he actually gets 6 euro from the job after costs but the App charge 15% on the full 10 euro =to 1.50 that is actually 25% of his earnings .Hitting an App for a taxi late at night when the streets are full of people who are willing to pay the driver for the service and not expect the driver to Subsidies the passengers need to be picked up outside Coppers @ 4AM .Add in the Bike Lane Bollards and pedestrianized streets .If any car Taxi or bus pulls up beside those bollards there is not enough room for other vehicles to overtake slowing down the time it takes for Taxis to return to the City .Its easy to blame the Taxi industry but look at the infrastructure and also your own lack of preparedness to adapt to the situation at hand .The only Legal Tender in this country is CASH no business is legally obliged to accept any form of payment other than CASH .
I’ve often struggled to get into one!
Last night. 40 min waiting. Including actually catching a taxi in a street.
No, young kids don’t let me go out anymore. Come back in a few years.
First world problem. In India and other parts of Asia partygoers get home in motor cycle, two-stroke engine rickshaws.
DeRegulate the taxis !
oh no wait !!!!
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